Aleksei is a well built young man, the result of intensive physical conditioning, a wicked combination of grace, speed and power.Powerful shoulders and a lean frame, he is a blur of motion moving across the urban landscape in a clean, economical manner, flowing over, through and around obstacles that would cause any sane man to hesitate.

He is heavily tattooed, his first a Virgin Mary draped in the flag of the Phillipines, a memorial for his mother, Jessa Ye.He has the old logo for the Naked Canvas tattooed over his right pectoral, a western style dragon crouched along his left shoulder blade it’s head leering over his shoulder to rest atop his heart.A snake entwines his right arm, wrapped around the trunks of trees which stand amidst a graveyard.Two headstones feature prominently along his forearm, one for his mother Jessa Ye, and another for Tricia Pereira.

In his civilian life, he wears loose fitting cargo pants, and layered tees and hoodies.Thin soled athletic shoes allow for maximum grip without slowing him down, he avoids jewellry or other affectations as the risk of having them catch something while he moves through his parkour routines is too great.He keeps his hair trimmed short, but it is thick, coarse and unkempt, the same came be said for his face, typically sporting about three days growth before it becomes too itchy and needs shaving.A square jaw, with intense brown eyes, his nose slightly crooked from a playground accident in his youth, and a chipped tooth gives his smile an almost feral cast.

As Koschei, he wears a tight fitting black thinsulate long sleeve, with a stylized dragon that has been silk screened across the chest.Army surplus combat webbing, as well as formed plastic bracers for his arms, knees, and shins.Thin textured gloves ensure maximum grip, similarly his footwear are athletic shoes, not boots, so as to provide maximum grip while staying light weight.He wears a stylized paintball mask, which has been spray painted a bone white, this helps to conceal his identity and projects a vaguely skull shaped image to his foes.

Power Descriptions:
Aleksei’s ability to absorb kinetic energy manifests as a shimmer radiating out from the point of impact, accompanied by a deep bass sound that resonates outwards.He has yet to develop the ability to channel or redirect the kinetic energy his powers allow him to absorb.

His ability to maneuver through Bedlam’s cityscape appear as though he possesses some sort of superhuman agility and speed.He is able to traverse drops, chasms, and obstacles with a fluidity and precision that challenges the observer’s understanding of gravity and motion.

History:

Vasay Konstantin, a Boyevik, or recruiter, in the Vorovskoy Bratva based out of Brooklyn who met Jessa Ye, a waitress at the Girls Vlub in the Meadows, during his business trips to Bedlam, WI.A brief but intense affair took place, and in time Jessa Ye gave birth to her son at Our Lady of Sorrow in Bedlam City. Vasay was not a staple in their lives, yet despite the Bratva code against either wife, or family, he maintained a tumultuous relationship with Jessa, while investing time in Alexsei’s life.He ensured the young boy could speak, and understand the Russian language, while teaching him that he was worthless, weak, and would need to learn to defend what was his with ruthless aggression.

Jessa abhorred Vasay’s treatment of her son, and while she could endure his violent tendencies, when that attention turned towards her son she found the strength to leave the cruelty behind her, and strike out on her own.Wanting to provide a better life for her son, Jessa changed her profession, instead concentrating on artistic endeavors, apprenticing at Skin Canvas, a reputable tattoo parlour in the Downtown core.Due to the gruelling hours of her apprenticeship, Aleksei became a staple around the shop, sweeping the floors, organizing portfolios, and running errands for the artists.The motley crew of the Naked Canvas became the brothers and sisters that Aleksei had never had; he learned to skate under the close eye of Tricia; he learned the streets from ex-ganger, Eduardo, and perhaps most importantly he learned the basics of Wing Chun from the lanky Jamaican, Lenny.

Tragedy struck when Aleksei was nine, in Spring of ’04 when a young addict, strung out and looking for a fix had smashed through the shop as the artists were closing for the night and Jessa was preparing to take her son home.He came stumbling in with a battered .38 and demanded what little money was in the till, Aleksei, curious about the commotion came out of the back office only to stumble into the would be robber, who then grabbed Aleksei and began flailing with the gun.Jessa, fearing for her son’s life, rushed the strung out addict, and the shot that followed shattered the young man’s life.

The artists of the Naked Canvas surrounded Aleksei for the next few weeks, sheltering him from the grief and the pain.His father, Vasay, attempted to visit, but Tricia and Lenny refused to let the man near their friend’s son.He bounced between the homes of Tricia, Lenny, and the other Canvas artists, until settling in with his uncle, Seongbin, above his Wolverton grocery store.He was enrolled in Langdon Bleeker, where he met Lena, neither of them were particularly interested in the athletics program, but shared a love of urban gymnastics; skating and parkour.Together the downtown core became their playground, particularly the skeletal remains of the Gorman Tower, where their stunt runs earned them hundreds of followers on various social media platforms.They soon earned the moniker, Gorman’s Ghosts, due to their seemingly death defying tricks, or the fact that those tricks would soon make ghosts of them both.

On graduating from L.B. High, Lexi and Lena, as they now called themselves, gathered a small following of friends whom all excelled at the urban acrobatics which had provided them with some degree of notoriety.Collectively calling themselves the Ghosts, they banded together for protection from other gangs in the Downtown core, pick pocketing to provide cash for their expenses.They soon gained some measure of notoriety as their familiarity with the downtown core, coupled with their almost impossibly fluid urban grace meant that they were near impossible to catch by their rivals or the police.

That notoriety allowed him to negotiate with several of the local gangs, resulting in a measure of neutrality for the Ghosts.However, they did hire themselves out as couriers between rival gangs, or factions, though due to the shooting that cost his mother’s life, he refused to transport guns or drugs.Vasay became aware of his son’s affiliations with the Ghosts, and was proud of the way he had climbed out of the street, establishing a name and reputation for himself, so he arranged a meeting whereby he would offer the Ghost’s exclusive rights to handle Vorovskoy business, as required, within Bedlam City.The meeting was arranged, with his soldiers in attendance to make it official, however he did not reveal Aleksei’s parentage to his organisation.

However, what Vasay did not expect was Aleksei’s vehement denial of the offer, and his subsequent outburst defaming Vasay as coward and less than a man for his abuse of Aleksei’s mother, and abandonment of the family.Spurned by such an insult, Vasay beat his son savagely and dumped his body in an alley within the downtown core.He then made a similar offer to Lena, Aleksei’s second in command, who accepted the offer having never truly felt the same opposition to the transport of either guns or narcotics.

Lenny discovered Aleksei at Bedlam General and the shop put up the funds for his care; he was released three days later.As Aleksei recovered, Lena visited him, informing him that the Ghosts were now hers, that they worked exclusively for the Vorovskoy Bratva, and their new employers had given them explicit orders that should they encounter Aleksei they were to eliminate him and provide proof to their handler, Vasay.

Ignoring his former lover’s advice, he investigated the Vorovskoy’s network in Bedlam City, and discovered they were preparing to test a new designer drug within the city.After having fully recuperated from his father’s assault, he was able to tail one of his former gang members to the distribution point, where the Ghost was to transport a sample of the new drug to the Bratva’s distribution network.Aleksei was able to secure the package, about 10 kilo’s with a street value of over $50K which he took to a small apartment he’d been squatting at, mixed it with Drano and poured it down a drain.

Lena appeared in a window, informing Aleksei that he should have run, and that she was sorry that it had to be this way.Her apology delivered she fled, Aleksei followed and try as he might, he couldn’t keep up which was the first time he’d ever lost to Lena.The following morning he discovered that the Canvas had been burned to the ground, Tricia was dead, and Lenny had been assaulted, his back broken, confining him to a wheelchair for the remainder of his life.

Enraged Aleksei confronted Lena at her wharf side apartment, arriving just in time to witness her juicing with the Bratva’s new designer drug, Max.She apologized again, swearing she had nothing to do with the arson and assault on the Canvas, but that she now had no choice.Aleksei heard the sedan, and knew he should have fled but his anger, his outrage, caused him to confront his father’s men.While Lena refused to fight her former lover, the Bratva soldiers had juiced with the new drug as well, and with near super human strength were able to overwhelm Aleksei, and had him held prone at the end of the pier when Vasay arrived.

The bore on the .45 seemed all encompassing; his father only shook his head as he pulled the trigger.The roar of the pistol deafened Aleksei, however, there was a surge, a shimmer, and a low thrum that reverberated through the damp night air.The recoil threw him into the frigid water, and blackness overwhelmed him.

He awoke in a warehouse, the creak of wheels, Lenny’s voice, who informed him he’d been in and out of consciousness for three days; that he’d got a call from Lena letting him know what happened; that he’d found his body floating in the Harbour and had his friend drag him to the van.Lenworth informed him that he’d worked with Justice Xtreme in the 90’s and he’d seen how that had failed, so if Aleksei was committed to this path they would need to train, and train hard.

That’s exactly what Aleksei did under Lenworth’s watchful eye, mastering Lenny’s version of Wing Chun, mixed with his own brand of parkour.Recalling a Russian fable that dealt with a sorcerer who could change his shape, a dragon, a whirlwind, depending on which story you read, but what stuck with Aleksei the most is that the wizard could not die, because he’d hidden his soul.When his mother had died, it had felt like he lost his soul, then the Canvas, Tricia.

The bullet should have killed him, but it didn’t.

Personality & Motivation:

Aleksei is a brash and impulsive young man, full of confidence and bravado.He is beginning to learn, under Lenworth’s tutelage, that this attitude is what ended up costing those he cares about their lives. As such he is trying to rein it in, to keep that under control, be more calculating, aware of his surroundings, his environment, and to apply that knowledge to his course of action, allowing him to evaluate those consequences.

While he has chosen to respond to the Bratva’s violence in kind, opposing them with his own brand of justice, due to the circumstances of his mother’s death he has vowed to never resort to the use of firearms as an equalizer.He is dedicated and focused, but has yet to cross the line that would result in the loss of life, nor is he willing to do so.Given his own upbringing he does have a soft spot for the youth of Bedlam City, and would be willing to go to extreme lengths to protect them, should the situation be necessary.

Having lost his mother, Jessa, the artist Tricia whom he viewed as a sister, his guilt over Lenny’s condition, as well as his complicated relationship with his former lover Lena, and the betrayal of his father, he has isolated himself from the outside world, concentrating on his crusade against the Vorovosky Bratva.However Lenworth has counselled otherwise.He has helped Aleksei get a position as a janitor in one of Bedlam’s worst highschools, hoping that Aleksei can begin to identify with some of the at-risk students he is in close proximity to.

Powers & Tactics:
Aleksei is a mobile fighter, and uses his environment to his advantage, flipping off of walls, sliding under rails, or vaulting over obstacles to catch his opponents unaware.He can just as quickly ensure that he is behind cover if his opponent is armed, so as to prevent any accurate return fire.

He has learned that he can concentrate and prevent even lethal shots from causing him harm, however, he will still instinctively try to avoid blows, or return fire, trusting in his agility rather than his kinetic resiliency.

Complications:

Daddy Issues: Alexsi has a troubled relationship with his abusive father, his abandonment of the family, and his criminal aspirations. And while Vasay has a grudging respect for his son, his continued disruption to the Vorovosky’s plans in Bedlam City have caused a loss in standing within the Bratva, and it is an issue which must be rectified before the Red Queen chooses to intercede. Aleksei feels the need to bring down his father tragedy that has been inflicted on him throughout his childhood, and his hatred of drugs and narcotics are only amplified when he considers how his father is now distributing a new designer drug through the already savaged urban landscape of Bedlam City.

Giving Back: Aleksei feels a combination of guilt and shame when he considers how his actions have impacted those closest to him, and so he maintains an almost fatalistic approach to his actions within the city. He will consider heavily the consequences of his actions, as he doesn’t wish any harm to befall those who he is trying to protect, but he is unconcerned with risks to his own personal safety as long as by his actions, he is aiding the greater good or removing a threat to that same ideal.

How’d I do that: Aleksei is entirely unaware of how his abilities work, and while he has deduced their protective nature he has not come to trust them entirely, instead relying upon his agility, and maneuvering in combat. It is possible that a massive kinetic force could overload his kinetic matrix, or that successive high energy blows could cause it to collapse entirely.

It’s Complicated:Aleksei’s relationship with Lena is ... for lack of a better word, complicated. She has her loyalties to the Vorovosky Bratva, and her contact with them, Vasay, however, she still harbors feelings for Aleksei. The two have always had a rivalry of sorts, seeking to out do the other with various stunts, runs, or races. However this rivalry has taken a deadlier turn as they are now on the different side of a war, Aleksei wants to save her from her growing dependency on the Bratva’s new drug, whereas she wants to save Aleksei from his own sense of idealism. How it will end is anyone’s guess.

Just Kids: Due to his own upbringing, and the charity of friends and family that aided him through the darkest time in his life, Aleksei is committed to aiding those less fortunate than himself, especially if they are children whose lives are still ahead of him. He will take great interest in cases involving disadvantaged children, and will often do so impulsively believing the best of the youth involved. A particularly cunning or ruthless opponent could certainly take advantage of this character trait.